 Angie M. Nemanic |
UNDEREXPOSING CONSTANTLY I shoot with a D70s and a tamron 28-300 mm lens (film lens). I use my light meter in the camera but consistently seem to have underexposed inmages. My photos also seem to be soft. Many times I shoot on a tripod and they still seem a little soft. I deliberatly shoot on tripod just to see if the images will be soft. I can't imagine that I have such awful camera shake that my photos don't have that crisp focus. I always focus directly on my main subject to make sure they are in focus, but they constantly seem soft. Do I have to overexpose for digital. Any suggestions.
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Justin G. |
Well Angie, with absolutely no experience with the D70s (or with Nikon in general for that matter) I can only give generic statements/advice. DSLR's generally produce somewhat soft images straight out of camera and generally need a little tweaking in PP. Also soft photos even from a tripod could be results from many things. If you shoot to small of an aperture, diffraction could pull into play (a effect of the light in which small apertures actually become soft instead of sharper). Depending on what you shoot, a windy day could make trees, grass, and shrubbery soft from the movement. A high ISO could make soft images. Improper focusing could also cause soft images. Research "hyperfocal distances" and the refer to www.dofmaster.com and look for the online DOF calculator. All these factors could play into the soft side of the house (and probably more). As for the underexposure. Each camera has its own idiosyncracies (sp?) and you need to just play with your camera and learn what it's going to do under certain situations. Maybe a permant +1/3EC will do the trick, who knows? Basically if you come across a scene that is similiar to one that's previous been underexposed, maybe drag the shutter or open up beforehand and go from there. Don't forget about that screen on the back and the histogram. Shoot the scene, then check the preview and the histogram. This will save from having to fix in PP (which could lead to grain and ... you guess it! SOFTNESS!) Anyways I just noticed that you said you were shooting with a 28-300mm. These superzooms (in general) have been notorious for softness compared to their lesser zoom counterparts. Maybe try a 28-70 or a 70-200 (or shoot...go all out and get a prime) and you'll probably be amazed at the differences in sharpness! If you got any questions, there's many knowledgeable people here that love helping people! Good luck. Hope my ramble makes sense! Justin
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Jessica A. Eiss |
Hi Angie, I've had my D70 for two yrs now, and YES! they do underexpose in many circumstances. not always will you need to leave a + compensation in, but shooting in bright or very reflective circumstances will throw the metering off. Like Justin said, that long zoom doesn't help in the softness area either. The farther out in the zoom range towards the max, the less sharp it'll be. Make sure yo use it on a tripod. And don't forget the reciprical "whatever it's called"...not handholding at 300mm with less than 1/300th, actually 1/250 in your shutter speed. Someone else can explain that one for you. Jess
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Justin G. |
You had it right Jess. It's just the reciprocal. Don't shoot less than the reciprocal of your focal length. At 135mm you shouldn't handhold less than 1/125 of a second. At 250mm you shouldn't shoot less than 1/250. And at 300mm I'd consider keeping it at 1/500 unless you have super steady hands or maybe you can lean against something.
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Raymond H. Kemp |
Both the Nikon D70 and D100 are known to underexpose slightly and yield a somewhat “flat” image. I have not seen this on my D200. On my D100 I downloaded a custom curve directly into the camera to resolve this issue. Although you could just boost your EV on the camera, a custom curve helps preserve contrast and better tone. It made a huge difference for me! Just Google D70 custom curves and you will see all kinds of stuff on this subject. You will need Nikon Capture software to load a custom curve into your camera but if I’m not mistaken you can download a 30-day trial version from Nikon’s web site. Ray
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Angie M. Nemanic |
Thanks for the information. I have to say, it's rather annoying to constantly have a camera underexpose. I do the rule for reciprocol so I don't shoot handheld below what I should. I'm currently trying to use my histogram when I shoot to determine the levels. I will also be looking in to the custom curve information. Thanks for that...this is useful for me. Angie. I have actually been thinking of doing more research on cannon dslrs Any comments on those?
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Justin G. |
ummm..you'll never regret moving to the canon side of the house :-) (sorry my nikon friends)
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Raymond H. Kemp |
This is one thing I hate in forums such as this. The absolutely stupid bantering "my camera brand is better than yours." Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Sony, who the hell cares!!! As long as we learn and share our experiences here is what counts. Please don’t let this thread become another one of those childish Canon vs. Nikon crap. We don’t need that here. That’s all. Ray
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Justin G. |
Raymond, with all due respect, who said this was a Nikon vs. Canon thread. She asked for comments on Canon's, and I gave my opinion. I never bashed Nikon. And actually to correct saying that I have no experience with Nikon, I do have a little. I've shot some images with my friends Nikon's and to be blunt, I honestly didn't like them. Doesn't mean that it doesn't work for you, just saying. She asked about Canon's and being a Canon guy I can contest to the quality they put in their products. It's not Canon vs. Nikon. She asked, I spoke.
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Samuel Smith |
do not forget the matrix raymond.only a small jest was made of product.many like myself make it kinda a game of fun with people of dedicated opinion.the true hardcores you couldn't squeeze a toothpick up their a. by the way neither canon or nikon digital can't compare to my 35mm minolta film camera. make sense,sam
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Raymond H. Kemp |
Gosh....hearing this from you Sam, I feel better already. Ray
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Raymond H. Kemp |
Sorry Justin, I guess I was having an off day and misread the tea leaves. Ray
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Justin G. |
No harm, no foul. I was just stating my position, lol. Anyways you have great EMS and fire shots in your portfolio. Do work directly with the fire department or EMS department? or do you work with the newsstation? or do you just listen to the scanners and "respond" yourself? Nice work!
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Raymond H. Kemp |
Kinda’ both. I’m “embedded” with the local EMS agencies here which allow me complete access to the scenes and I’m allowed to ride with the paramedics and supervisors. That is how I’m able to get so close to the action. I own a company called 911 Imaging and with it I’m under contract as a stringer for the newspapers here and for several magazine publications in California. In addition, I contract for a large publisher. When I’m not chasing ambulances (which I do from my home from time to time) I’ve been doing a fair amount of work photographing models for a lingerie catalog. But I enjoy spot news work the best. Ray
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Samuel Smith |
patronizing is not allowed in this forum.but there are those that may tolerate it if used in a decent concept. I need to learn so much more.so much. sam
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Jagadeesh Andrew Owens |
As someone stated up there - the D70s does underexpose. Nikon intentionally made it this way with the mindset that once highlights are blown - there's no recovering them, even if you shoot raw. When I was still shooting my D70s I set my exposure comp to +.7 and left it there. It did the trick. With my D200, I have upped the EC to +3. It's just a Nikon thing.
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Jagadeesh Andrew Owens |
Sorry - meant to say +.3
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Pete H |
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong (when shooting digital) to err on the side of under exposure, (1/3-1/2 stop) is acceptable and will not introduce noticible noise artifacts in the final image. I prefer to shoot this way ALL the time in case I decide on selective masking in the edit process and want to retain the whites while bringing up the shadows. ALL digital imaging (prosumer) currently will benefit from some post editing, generally in contrast, color or overall exposure. Your mileage may vary. ;) Pete
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